CORRELATIVE STUDY OF ANGIOGENESIS IN ENDOMETRIAL CANCER ASSESSED BY THE COLOR DOPPLER ULTRASOUND AND BY THE CHICK-EMBRYO CHORIOALLANTOIC MEMBRANE

Angiogenesis is required for both tumor growth and progression and the degree of vascularization seems to correlate with prognosis in severa l human tumors including uterine malignant neoplasms. In this study we have investigated if three Doppler parameters, such as peak systolic velocity (PSV), resistance index (RI) and pulsatily index (PI), measur ed in patients with endometrial cancer, were correlated to the angioge nic response induced by grafting of bioptic specimens obtained from th e same patients onto the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM), a useful in vivo model for such an investigation. Results showed that only PSV was directly correlated to the degree of angiogenesis measure d by means of the CAM assay. Moreover, these two parameters were also directly correlated to the malignancy grade of the disease.